Digitizing the Docks at Arnold Freight: A Monday.com Success Story
How a century-old freight company traded paper logs for real-time operational insight.
Implement a Custom Digital Scheduling and Billing System
Replace manual or outdated processes with a digital system tailored specifically to Arnold Freight’s operations.
Improve Accuracy and Efficiency in Daily Operations
Increase the accuracy of billing and the efficiency of freight scheduling to streamline operations and reduce human error.
Facilitate Employee Adoption of New Technology
Ensure that employees could comfortably transition to and adopt the new technology through on-site support and user-friendly design.
Overview:
Arnold Freight, a 100+ year-old company transporting freight between the mainland and Mackinac Island, knew their operations were overdue for a transformation. With more than 50% of shipments still logged manually — by paper, invoice, or handwritten ledgers — the risk of delay, error, and inefficiency was growing with every delivery.
That’s where WHIM Innovation came in. As a certified monday.com partner, WHIM Innovation specializes in turning legacy workflows into digital ecosystems designed for scale. For Arnold Freight, that meant rethinking operations from dock to destination.
TESTIMONIAL
“WHIM Innovation has provided excellent management and communication. We’ve been impressed with [their] speed and efficiency.”
– Kris Brown, Director of Operations
The Challenge: Legacy Processes in a Modern World
At project kickoff, WHIM Innovation met with all key stakeholders, including operations, accounting, and ownership teams. The operations manager walked us through their current workflow — a deeply manual system of recording shipments on paper, tracking billing offline, and relying on phone calls for early drop-offs and scheduling.
The finance team described similar pain points in back-office functions. Without centralized tracking, billing processes required cross-referencing handwritten forms with physical ledgers — for more than 1,500 customers.
With leadership overseeing the project, the shared goal was clear: digitize operations in a way that fits the unique rhythm of ferry logistics — and lay the foundation for visibility, accuracy, and scalability.
The Process: Discovery That Docks in Reality
WHIM Innovation kicked things off with discovery meetings and process mapping sessions involving every stakeholder. Together, we walked through the full customer journey: From the moment a customer arrives to drop off a shipment → to that shipment being loaded on a barge → to the delivery at Mackinac Island → and finally to the receiving end customer.
We even visited the island in person to see the operations firsthand — a process that, while deeply rooted in tradition, was far more complex than it needed to be.
The Solution: monday.com as a Modern Logistics Hub
With discovery complete, WHIM Innovation moved into the Build Phase. We created a dedicated monday.com environment for Arnold Freight, custom-built to reflect their workflow and ferry operations.
Key components included:
- Custom boards aligned to logistics and delivery cycles
- User-friendly forms and screens for scheduling and drop-offs
- A data structure that allows for real-time tracking and future reporting
- Automation-ready architecture to reduce manual follow-up
What began as a maze of paper processes is evolving into a digital platform that empowers the entire Arnold Freight team to operate with clarity — and confidence.
Rolling It Out: From the Dock to the Ledger
As the solution took shape, WHIM Innovation deployed the tools on-site — bringing not just a plan, but the hardware to match. A laptop and six iPads were set up alongside TVs and monitors, all logged into monday.com for full visibility.
The following day, we began configuring the iPads and trained the operations team on how to navigate the platform. Their feedback helped fine-tune the boards before we walked the dock crew through the new forms and workflows. We paired digital onboarding with the legacy ledger system to ease the transition, allowing the team to compare methods before fully committing to monday.com.
Early indicators are strong: the dock team is using the form frequently, and the real-time visibility is already changing how daily operations are run.
Connecting the Docks to the Books
One of the most critical shifts is how data moves from the dock to the finance team. Forms filled out on the dock are now directly tied to invoicing — a major upgrade for the accounting workflow.
Previously, invoicing happened just once a month. The finance team would receive data daily but had to sort and re-enter it manually. Now, with recurring delivery slots and slotted times captured in the system, invoicing is faster, cleaner, and less stressful.
We’ve also built a training hub and living FAQ inside monday.com, so the team has ongoing support as they adopt the new system.
Let’s Build
Turn insights into impact — and do more with less.
